sheepdog

or sheep dog

[ sheep-dawg, -dog ]

/ ˈʃipˌdɔg, -ˌdɒg /

noun

a dog trained to herd and guard sheep.

Nearby words

Origin of sheepdog

First recorded in 1765–75; sheep + dog

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sheepdog

Grossman has a name for the kind of person who sees the gun as protector in the opening thought experiment: sheepdog.
In Defense of a Good Guy With a Gun|Brian Castner|April 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But Grossman would say that all I am doing is leaving the sheepdog burden for others, that I am choosing to live in denial.
In Defense of a Good Guy With a Gun|Brian Castner|April 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The mop-haired pup, Beast, is a type of Hungarian sheepdog and frequently posts pictures and insight into his family life.
Who Is Priscilla Chan, New Wife of Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg?||May 21, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Like all good lurchers, she is bred between the greyhound and sheepdog.
Poachers and Poaching|John Watson

To this class belong most of the useful dogs, such as the spaniel, the setter, the pointer and the sheepdog.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6|Various
My comment on this story was that the farmer had displayed an almost incredible ignorance of a sheepdog—and a shepherd.
A Shepherd's Life|W. H. Hudson
Then sometimes you find all predictions upset, and all the big dogs beaten by a greyhound or an Old English sheepdog.
The Dogs of Boytown|Walter A. Dyer
I have had, maybe, a dozen dogs in all, the best being the result of a pure cross between greyhound and sheepdog.
The Confessions of a Poacher|Anonymous

British Dictionary definitions for sheepdog

sheepdog

/ (ˈʃiːpˌdɒɡ) /

noun

Also called: shepherd dog a dog used for herding sheepSee Border collie

any of various breeds of dog reared originally for herding sheepSee Old English sheepdog, Shetland sheepdog

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012